1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to vaginal exercise devices and methods of using vaginal exercise devices to improve muscle tone of perivaginal muscles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The perivaginal anatomy consists of two major sets of muscles, including a set of sphincter muscles and a set of supporting muscles. The supporting muscles have the appearance of a hammock having its ends attached to the sides of the pelvic bones. The sphincter muscles and the supporting muscles in combination are commonly referred to as the pelvic diaphragm. Three hollow tube-like structures, the urethra, the vagina, and the rectum, extend downwardly through respective openings in the central portion of the pelvic diaphragm. Where the muscle tone of the pelvic diaphragm is good, these openings are maintained in a constricted condition by virtue of the tightness of the muscles of the pelvic diaphragm. However, the muscle tone of the pelvic diaphragm commonly deteriorates as a result of poor physical conditioning, injuries associated with child birth, and atrophy associated with aging. As a result, the openings in the pelvic diaphragm become progressively larger and lax. This laxity is associated with a number of female problems, including fallen bladder, fallen rectum, uterine prolapse, stress incontinence of urine (leaking urine caused by coughing or other muscle straining), difficulties with voiding, cystitus, decreases sexual responsiveness, and chronic discomfort. In the absence of a rigorous program of conditioning and exercising the muscles of the pelvic diaphragm, these conditions generally can be corrected only by major surgery and incurring of the usual risks associated with major surgery. It has been found that regular exercise of the muscles of the pelvic diaphragm improves the general muscle tone, resulting in improved voluntary muscle control, increased strength and reinervation of previously injured muscles, and can generally prevent, correct, or at least improve the above female conditions associated with pelvic relaxation. It also has been found that the physical condition of the perivaginal muscles is directly related to sexual responsiveness and sexual pleasure of the female during intercourse. It is also known that improved muscle tone achieved by voluntary exercise of the muscles of the pelvic diaphragm is desirable as a preparation for childbirth because well-toned muscles stretch during childbirth and contract to their original lengths more readily than poorly toned muscles.
Various intravaginal devices have been disclosed for enabling a woman and/or her physician to observe the amount of pressure voluntarily applied to the muscles of the pelvic diaphragm in order to help the woman attain voluntary control of such muscles and to carry out a program of exercising the muscles of the pelvic diaphragm. U.S. Pat. No. 2,507,858 discloses a perinometer having a hollow tube which is inserted into the vagina. Air trapped in the hollow tube communicates with a pressure gauge by means of a hose, indicating the amount of pressure being exerted by the vaginal muscles. This device is quite expensive, inconvenient and unpleasant to use. Further, it does not provide suitable resistance to contraction of vaginal muscles to be suitable in a rigorous program of muscle rebuilding. Its main use is as a diagnostic tool and as a tool for enabling a woman to initially learn voluntary muscle control of her vaginal muscles by providing visual feedback which aids the learning of such voluntary muscle control. Various other devices, including those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,598,106, 3,752,150, 3,926,178, 4,048,985, and 4,050,449, all disclose intravaginal devices having hollow tubes which compress air or other fluids, producing an indication on a sensor (such as a gauge) to provide feedback to the woman indicating the amount of vaginal control she has attained. However, the known devices suffer from the shortcomings that they are expensive, inconvenient, bulky, and in some cases, somewhat embarrassing or unpleasant to use. Further, most of the intravaginal devices disclosed in the above patents suffer the additional shortcoming that they do not suitably remain in proper position in the vagina when strong contractions of the muscles of the pelvic diaphragm are made.
Although programs of exercising the muscles of the pelvic diaphragm are known to be beneficial, voluntary programs of such routine exercise are seldom sustained long enough to be satisfactory. This is due in part to the above short-comings of the known devices. As with any device designed to be inserted vaginally, psychological objections by some patients must be overcome. The size and complexity of the known devices may tend to increase these objections, despite reassurance by the physician. Further, the complexity of the prior intravaginal devices makes cleaning a difficult and inconvenient task, further increasing patient resistance to continued use of such devices for a sufficiently long period of time to adequately improve vaginal muscle tone of the user.
There is clearly an unmet need for a simple, small low cost vaginal exercise device which can be easily and privately utilized, cleaned, and transported by the average female patient.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a low cost vaginal exercise device and to provide a method for utilizing and attaining proficiency in utilizing the vaginal exercise device to improve vaginal muscle tone without undue effort, inconvenience, or embarrassment to the user.
It is another object of the invention to provide a vaginal exercise device which overcomes common psychological objections to use of such devices.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a vaginal exercise device which is easily cleaned.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a low cost vaginal exercise device which is conveniently and easily accommodated between the legs of the user.
A further object of the invention is to provide a vaginal exercise device which resists muscular contractions of the pelvic diaphragm more efficiently than intravaginal devices of the prior art.
A yet further object of the invention is to provide an isometric vaginal exercise device.